{Reipon}

Tameka left Xelan to prepare for Phase II and went to collect Pax from the lounge, but found him nestled in with all the boys and the Lyriks playing board games.

“Mommy,” he whined cutely. “Pleeeeeease.”

Andrew waved her on. “Don’t worry, Tameka. Earth team is prepped, and Pax isn’t bothering us.”

Bones chimed in. “Go relax or something, Fury. Enjoy the alone time.”

Alone time.

What a concept.

“All right.”

What would Tameka do with herself? With no clue, she wandered up the stairs toward her suites and bumped into Tumu. “Hey, I thought you and Xelan were meeting for Mon3 prep.”

All the way up his seven feet compression, Tumu said in a voice which still hurt her ears and she never fully acclimated to, “He was upset about something, Peaches. I don’t suppose you know what.”

Oh. “Razor brought up some stuff Xelan wasn’t ready to talk about.” That gave her a notion. She tilted her head at the Tritan. “You’ve known him a long time. Did you know he worked on the Weapon project?”

Tumu leaned against the balustrade as he considered her question. Eventually, he said, “I never knew of the initiative to make nacres into Weapons until they gave it to Rayne. I knew he worked on some experimental nacres for Enki in return for aid to fight Nox. It’s possible, even Xelan knew nothing of the Weapon itself, but still contributed to it. Am I making sense?”

Tameka nodded. “I think so. You’re saying that he was tricked into it.”

The old Primary’s almond-shaped voids widened slightly despite the lack of eyelids. “Yes, and no. He worked under Lance and Wiw’s sentencing, so I doubt even they knew. Is it deceiving another when you’ve been manipulated as well?”

Sighing, Tameka dismissed his logic with a wave. “You Tritans have a way of washing your hands clean of your messes. Leaving the rest of us to clean it up. I still can’t get a simple answer as to how many of you there are.”

“The answer is ‘We don’t know,’” Lamassau said as he entered the foyer from the kitchen. “We believe there are fewer and more than we assume.”

Tameka pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. “Huh?”

Tumu explained, quieting his voice for her distress. “No one has seen Primary Xhi and Lon since we came to Enki. We don’t know if they’re alive.”

“But we do believe they stored some of our people in resurrection caskets on Enki.” Lamassau, the only Tritan Tameka ever saw eat food, stuffed a whole tomato in his mouth and busted it in his sharp teeth while saying, “Unfortunately, we found no proof.”

Tameka looked between the two of them, incredulous. “I’m sorry. I know Enki is tremendous, but how can you—you, Tumu, a Primary—not know so much about your race.”

The Tritan couple shared an exchange. Lamassau shrugged. Tumu confessed, “You think you can trust your own. It’s never the case. I know Enki—the Tritans—want to restore our race using women from across the galaxy in a reproduction program. They also desired security, so they employed the Icari, constructed the Lyriks, and eventually developed the Weapons. I know Imminent interlaced their operations, lending to the more sinister projects of which we are still unsure what they are and how far they reach. For that, I’m sorry.”

Softening her combative tendencies, Tameka smiled sadly at Tumu. “I know you’re doing everything you can to make it right.” She looked at Lamassau. “You, too. Thank you both. Sorry if I still get… you know… Anyway, I’m heading off to clear my head. See you two in a few hours.”

Lamassau waved while shoving another tomato into his mouth.

Tumu called after her, halfway up the stairs, “Peaches?”

She turned. “Yes?”

“We will make it right.”

Lam punctuated the affirmation with two thumbs up and a messy face.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Laughing felt good, and it relieved the tension between them. Tired and stressed out, Tameka headed to the weight room on the second floor. Her suites could wait until after she relieved some tension—

A present waited for her inside.

Xelan, shirtless and glistening, executed a perfect one-handed push-up with Pil platinum plates on his back. And the gym was empty. No one to ask to leave or to force awkward interactions.

Just them.

Door locked without a cackle. It was a wonder Tameka managed.

She stripped out of her shirt, leaving only her sports bra beneath. She could work out in the cut-off shorts. Her only complaint was all the mirrors in the room kept her from sneaking up on him.

When he spied her approach, Xelan explained to her reflection between grunts. “Needed to… relieve some… tension.”

Tameka grinned at him in the mirror. “I’m here to help.” As she lifted the plates off his back with some significant strain, he stopped mid-push-up with a quirked brow. Before he could guess, she climbed on his back, much to his chuckling delight.

“What’re you doing?”

Tameka positioned herself on top of his push-up position with her head at his calves. Gripping his ankles, she planted the toes of her shoes between his shoulder blades. “I’m working out, silly.”

“Silly, eh?” Xelan’s grin in the mirror meant the world to her.

“You do your push-ups. I got mine.” Tameka nodded encouragingly, with a wicked challenge in her eyes.

Xelan pushed down, and so did Tameka, using his ankles on top of his back. When he pushed up, they both laughed at the wobbliness of it all, but after a few reps, they found their balance.

Two hundred of those.

Xelan got slippery along the way, and Tameka laughed at their ridiculous antics. Once they completed a set, she asked, “How was that?”

“Interesting. I’ll admit.” Xelan’s grin crooked into a smirk. “My turn to help you.”

That sparkle in his eyes almost made Tameka lick her lips. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”

Xelan stood in the center of the room and reached out to her. “Wrap your legs around my hips.”

Tameka was fine with this. She jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms and legs around him. Xelan smiled and this close, she fixated on that midnight ring outside the black of his eyes. “I missed this.” Her voice came out breathy, but she meant the significance of the feeling behind the words.

“Get ready to see it two hundred more times.”

That made Tameka blink. “Huh?”

With her wrapped around him, Xelan bent his knees into a perfect box squat. “It’s your turn, Tameka.” He said her name the way she liked.

Oh. Uhm. Okay. Tameka figured it out. She locked her legs securely and fell back for a sit-up. All the way up until she met his eyes again.

Xelan waited for her with his signature grin. “One.”

He squatted again, she fell back, and so they went. The friction of Tameka’s shorts against Xelan’s sweats added an intimacy to the exercise with his eyes so close. They almost kissed several times, but prolonging it increased the want into a need. A craving to kiss him.

At one hundred and fifty sit-ups with no interruptions—people needing guidance, ex-lovers, or Pax—she growled, “Fuck it,” and kissed him.

Xelan tasted Tameka’s lips and went to his knees, pinning her to the floor. Shiny from their exercise, they gripped each other. Him clutching her legs; her squeezing his arms. Bergamot, honey, and leather mixed in the air. They both moaned along their tongues and lips. Afraid to let go.

Xelan parted only enough to pop the buttons on Tameka’s fly and looked at her. They were both flushed, him blue, her red. Roughly, he pulled off her shorts, staring at her. “I had plans. Ideas. Fantasies—”

Tameka swallowed her pulse.

“—But I can’t wait for the weeks I want to spend with you. Not anymore. I’ll make it up to you.”

Tameka opened her mouth to dismiss it and beg him to take her now, but he kissed her hard enough to press her head against the tile beneath. Easily, Xelan pushed down his pants and found her ready. Found home waiting for him there.

He closed his eyes and groaned when he entered her, stretched her, even with her eagerness and desire. It almost hurt, and she loved every second.

Tameka cried out and arched her neck. Xelan kissed over her nacre and across the swell of her breasts. Impatiently, he freed them from the confining bra and tended her in time to his thrusts. She opened her eyes to glimpse them in the mirror. The length of their bodies pressed together. Her legs spread wide for him, and him taking—

Xelan caught her looking and grinned—playful and sexy. “Don’t close your eyes. Keep looking.”

Tameka nodded for him because she couldn’t speak.

He twisted with the next thrust, and her eyes almost fluttered shut. Their sensual, heavy gazes looked back at her. Xelan did it again, and she called out his name, looking like a hungry animal. Once more and Tameka lost.

Her eyes closed, and she cried out. Spine bowed. Lip bitten to bleeding—

That changed the moment entirely.

“Yes. Tameka. Now.” Xelan purred in her ear.

She granted his wish and bit into his shoulder. The nanites in his blood fed the deprivation in hers. The sensation of the bite ruined his careful control. Xelan lost the twisting rhythm and forgot caring for roughness. He simply fucked her.

Tameka loved it.

The bite healed, and she drew her tongue across his skin. Made her way down his collar bone. The straining vessels in his neck. Kissing over his nacre sent Xelan over the edge.

He let go, and she went with him.

Still, Icari could go for days. No matter how many times Xelan could finish, he would keep going. So, Tameka clasped his face in her hands and made him look at her, while she said, “I want more. Now. But we’ve got a war to win and a kiddo to see.”

The lust cleared in Xelan’s eyes, and he grinned. “I care about at least one of those two things.” He sat up. Tameka thought he meant to stand, but he took her legs and shifted them to one side. In easy, languid draws, he moved for her. “But both can wait a few more times.”

In this new position, Tameka suddenly lost the need to care about anything outside of this room.

Pax was fine learning all the cuss words that came with playing games in the lounge.

The war couldn’t happen without them.

Sex with Xelan was now. And necessary. And good.

So very, very good.